


a respite

by wildcard_47



Series: from partridges to pear trees [2]
Category: The Terror (TV 2018), The Terror - Dan Simmons
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 04:14:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16987851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildcard_47/pseuds/wildcard_47
Summary: For Day 2 of Carnivale, and the prompt "state of grace." On the long walk, James finds he cannot sleep.





	a respite

Nights as they knew them were nonexistent here. Because the sun refused to set for more than an hour at a time, the only respite James had from the constant, head-splitting glare of sundogs on the horizon was when he was lying inside the Captain’s tent, out of the direct light.

Well. Captains’ tent. He and Francis had made the decision to bunk up weeks ago.

Although neither he nor his First could say they slept particularly well in their shared bag, given the ever-present cold, the rough conditions, and their respective ailing constitutions, James did appreciate one aspect of this endless twilight above all else. It was the singular opportunity the dim aura offered to study Francis up close each evening, albeit for a few hours or minutes or less – to map each new line carved into his face, follow the sloping path of each dwindling muscle in his shoulders, or fix the position of every sunburned freckle at his collar, without hurry or shame.

For James could not really sleep these days, and since he could not sleep, then he could not truly rest – but in a esoteric manner it was a sort of respite to lie clutched to Francis’s thinning ribs for an hour or two – to feel the steady beat of a still-stout Irish heart against his temple and a warm, sickly-sweet breath stirring his bleeding scalp. 

Even if the pain in his joints and legs and back flared to previously unknown heights amid the inescapable cold, James felt he could nearly sail beyond it if he let go his conscious mind and sought that ever-elusive state of grace, mentally beseeching an as-yet-absent Providence for the one favor he felt sure he was still owed in this world.

_ Please let Francis live. Oh, God, I want him to live. _


End file.
